On April 14, HuffPost published a powerful piece by our client, Camika Shelby, about how the tragic loss of her son Nigel has driven her to advocate for the rights of other LGBTQ+ students. After Nigel died by suicide at the age of 15 in April 2019, Camika learned that he had suffered constant anti-gay harassment at Huntsville High School in Huntsville, Alabama, and that school administrators refused to act.

Last month, the Huntsville City Board of Education agreed to settle the federal civil lawsuit brought by Ms. Shelby and Nigel’s father challenging the school district’s failure to respond to the harassment Nigel experienced. As part of the settlement, the school board agreed to take a series of critical measures to improve its response to bias-motivated harassment in its schools and to improve the school climate for LGBTQ+ students.

In her piece, Ms. Shelby wrote that she brought the lawsuit to bring change. “It wasn’t about the money — there is no amount of money in the world that could ever replace Nigel,” she wrote. “This lawsuit was about potentially saving somebody else’s child so they don’t have to go through the horrible tragedy that I have.”

On the settlement, Ms. Shelby added, “I hope the changes brought about by this settlement create a safe space for kids of the LGBTQ community to be able to express themselves and be who they are without the fear of being judged, treated differently or discriminated against.”

Wardenski P.C. represented Ms. Shelby and Nigel’s father in Shelby v. Huntsville City Board of Education with co-counsel Public Justice and Conchin, Cole, Jordan & Sherrod. We thank Ms. Shelby for the opportunity to honor Nigel’s legacy and improve the lives of other LGBTQ+ young people through this important case.

Media

I Lost My 15-Year-Old Son. Then I Learned The Horrific Truth About What Happened Before He Died. (HuffPost | 04.14.2023)

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Alabama School District to Bolster LGBTQ+ Protections as Part of Settlement with Family of Nigel Shelby (03.29.2023)

“Our kids―and the adults these kids hopefully get to grow up to be―deserve to have the same rights as everyone else, and they deserve to live without fear or harassment. They deserve to live.”

-Camika Shelby